NSSE to Unveil Revised Survey at AIR 2012

Join NSSE staff at the 2012 Association for Institutional Research’s (AIR) Annual Forum, in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 2nd to June 6th, 2012. In addition to numerous NSSE related research presentations, we will officially unveil NSSE 2.0 on June 4th at our Demonstration Session and Special Interest Group gathering. Also, look for staff presentations about NSSE 2.0 development methods, and examples of revised survey content relating to quantitative reasoning and student-faculty interaction. Conference attendees will have ample opportunity to discuss the transition to using the revised instrument. Check the AIR 2012 official program for more detailed information. We look forward to seeing you there!

University of Virginia Boosts NSSE Participation

To raise awareness of NSSE on campus, and help ensure that its results would be as reliable as possible, the Institutional Assessment & Studies (IAS) unit at the University of Virginia (UVA) coordinated a multi-faceted promotional campaign for their 2011
administration. The initiative included designing: posters, student newspaper ads, campus television promotions, social media
campaigns, press releases, and a dedicated NSSE page on the UVA Web site. Staff, faculty, and various student organizations also helped increase awareness about the survey among students through various channels. Facilitated by these marketing efforts, UVA obtained an exceptionally strong response rate of 51%. Click here to view additional information regarding UVA’s campaign as well as slides from IAS’s presentation, Student Time is a Limited Resource: Encouraging Student Participation in Surveys and Assessments through Marketing and Outreach, at the 2011 Virginia Assessment Conference.

Maximizing NSSE in the VSA College Portrait

Approximately 300 institutions feature NSSE results in the Student Experiences section of their VSA College Portrait. Even more, some institutions have augmented their VSA College Portrait data display with additional results.

The first Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) webinar of 2012, Maximizing NSSE in the VSA: Approaches to Transparency, Accountability and Improvement, presented by Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director of the NSSE Institute, shares strategies for presenting NSSE results and engaging different audiences, including the public, policymakers, prospective students, and the campus community. The webinar also includes an exchange of ideas on how to capitalize on NSSE results to assess and improve the quality of the undergraduate experience. Click here to view the webinar.

NSSE 2.0 Development Process Winding Down

As NSSE 2.0’s release date approaches, and more than three years of development work concludes, we extend our sincere thanks to all of the institutions that participated in the development process. A diverse set of approximately 80 colleges and universities from across the U.S. and Canada either administered a pilot instrument or welcomed us onto their campus to conduct student cognitive interviews and focus groups. We also thank the countless other NSSE users and higher education experts who have given us helpful advice and feedback over the past several years to help ensure NSSE’s utility.

Research in Brief: Learning to Improve

As calls for undergraduate education reform have become louder, institutions have instituted more programmatic changes and increased their assessment activities. Few institutions, however, have closed the assessment loop by following up and measuring the impact of their initiatives to effect change.

Alex McCormick, NSSE Director, and Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director of the NSSE Institute, recently presented findings from the Spencer Foundation funded project, Learning to Improve, at the AAC&U Annual Meeting 2012. The study identified institutions that have demonstrated improvements in NSSE scores over time. They report that 41% of institutions displayed a pattern of improvement in at least one measure for first-year students, 28% of institutions showed the same for seniors, and positive trends outnumbered negative ones by a margin of 7 to 1. When asked about their motivations to effect positive change on their campus, institutions cited an institutional commitment to improving undergraduate education, that data revealed areas of concern, and faculty interest in improving undergraduate education. McCormick and Kinzie also revealed emerging themes associated with reform efforts at eight campuses identified for site visits, including the importance of stability in leadership, involvement in external grants and projects, a data informed culture of continuous improvement, linking change to centers for teaching and learning and faculty development, and intentional partnerships between student and academic affairs. More findings from this project will be shared later this year.